Work parties will be cancelled if: a) the forecast is for 35 deg C+, b) it is a total fire ban day, c) there is lightening, or d) there is heavy rain.

Workparty sites

Scrivener's Hut, a small but ecologically important grassy woodland on
the western side of Capitol Hill, between Capitol and State circles

Stirling Park (52 ha) in Yarralumla, which has a big population of the
endangered Button Wrinklewort and grassy woodland

Yarramundi Reach (23 ha), off Lady Denman Drive on the north side of
Lake Burley Griffin, a native grassland.

Left: woody weeds in Stirling Park

Right: plant survey at Yarramundi Reach

History

There were 16 FoG working parties across the three sites in 2013 following
the commencement of mid-weekly events in Stirling Park and increased support
from residents of Yarralumla. FoG supporters contributed over 1,000 hours in
volunteer work in 2013, for a total of 3,860 since 2009. Around 1,200 m3 of
woody weeds were cut, for a total of over 2,900 m3 since 2009. For more
information on FoG's work see the Annual Reports.

The statistics for our volunteer efforts in 2015 showed that over 17
workparties, 192 people volunteered for 651 hours and we cut an estimated 1,053 m3 of green weeds. More importantly, we made significant progress in clearing Stirling Park of woody weeds and in replanting key areas of both Stirling Park and Yarramundi Reach.

Thanks to an ACT Government Environment Grant of $19,010 in 20013-14, FoG was
able to engage contractors to spray key weeds at the three sites.

General update, February 2018

Stirling Park is in much better condition than over the past decade thanks to
our efforts and those of the NCA. The last of the ‘old growth’ woody weeds
should be dispatched this month. Concerted spraying of Briar Rose, Blackberry
and St John’s Wort over the last two years has greatly reduced their populations. We hired a contractor this summer who has significantly reduced infestations of Fennel and Everlasting Pea. Our plantings of eucalypts, wattles and other shrubs have suffered some losses but surviving plants are thriving. Most exciting is the spread of a number of species wildflowers that we planted with Greening Australia in three plots, with wind-blown seed aiding the recolonization of weeded grassland. The Attunga Point shoreline remains largely weed free after our work to mop up after the NCA contractors, who removed major woody weeds. Happily, dense indigenous regrowth (good small bird habitat) is maturing following the removal of over 200 weed trees on the western side of Stirling Ridge three years ago.

Challenges remain, including finding the right method to kill Blue Periwinkle infestations. We keep finding more African Lovegrass and Serrated Tussock incursions. Illegal dumping of garden waste (e.g. lawn clippings and autumn leaves), especially off the Fitzgerald Street car park, is one source of these weeds.

At Yarramundi Reach our battle against weed grasses (African Lovegrass, Chilean Needle Grass and Paspalum) continues. Blackberry and St John’s Work are considerably reduced. The NCA’s enhanced burning program is helping to create the right density of grass cover to allow other wildflower species to thrive.

The NCA is supporting FoG again in 2018 with a $6,000 grant to pay for volunteer training (anyone keen to help with ChenCert III or First Aid certification, please contact me), tools, plants and weed control services. FoG will be seeking a meeting soon with the new National Capital Authority Chief Executive, Sally Barnes, to introduce her to the bushland and our work to conserve it.

Stirling Park and Scrivener's Hut

FoG and Save Stirling
Park Group, with strong support from the NCA, are working together to eliminate the infestations in the
park of cotoneaster, pyracantha (firethorn), hawthorn, olive trees, Cootamundra wattles,
photinia, privet, blackberry, fleabane, St John’s wort - the list goes on. We are also planting a substantial number of species native to this area including eucalypts, kurrajongs, bursaria, acacias, small native plants and ground covers (forbes).

In January 2014, FoG President Sarah Sharp coordinated a re-survey of weeds
and also threatened plants across key parts of Stirling Park. A number of the
quarter hectare survey quadrats were almost completely free of woody weeds
following volunteer restoration efforts since 2009, especially at the southern
end of Stirling Ridge. Many thousand individual plants of a number of threatened
species were counted. Sadly, other quadrats at the northern and eastern ends are
still thick with weeds. The survey will help us target our future workparties
to best effect.

A huge
volume of woody weeds was cleared by the May 2014 workparty. Much of it was box
thorn which left its mark on a few arms and legs but it was all dragged onto the
pile outside the fence opposite the rusty sculpture in Alexandrina Drive. We had
twenty-two workers ranging across students, Friends of Grasslands and Save
Stirling Park Group. It is pleasing to note that the numbers of
volunteers continues to grow as more people realise the importance of retaining
Stirling Park and of removing exotic and non indigenous interlopers. These are
the infestations of cotoneaster, firethorn (pyracantha), box thorn, olive trees
and the Cootamundra wattles which have spread prolifically and impede the growth
of species indigenous to this area. Where the Tasmanian blue gums were felled
and burnt was not pretty, but Friends of Grasslands planted 200
locally indigenous trees and shrubs. As
these start to grow, and other local species and wild flowers begin to
re-populate the open space, the visual effect will increasingly improve for all
those who walk run, learn or otherwise benefit from Stirling Park.

The ACT
Government’s natural resources management program granted FoG $6000 for
2014–15 to control key weeds and do some planting at grassland sites on national
lands (thank you ACT Government). FoG’s contractor sprayed Vinca, St
John’s wort, african lovegrass and Chilean needle grass at the Scrivener’s Hut site, which
should put it in excellent shape.

The
site at Stirling Park in Yarralumla was heavily infested with Chilean needle
grass and once this was sprayed in 2012 there was little remaining groundcover
alive. In 2013 FoG and the Greening Australia planted 200 forbs in a section of
the sprayed area.
Fifteen months on (photo at right), Leucochrysum had gone from 40 to
nearly 300 plants, with the second generation flowering and throwing seed.
Little haloes of seedlings were starting to appear around both of the
Chrysocephalum species planted. Eryngium had survived and was
starting to flower. There were still issues with the roos, rabbits, a dry summer
and emerging weeds, but the site was looking much better than it had two years
earlier.

Fire is an essential management tool for native grasslands. FoG worked with the National
Capital Authority and Rural Fire Service volunteers to burn patches of Stirling Park on 16 May 2015.

Yarramundi Reach

In July 2014, a
small team of volunteers planted about 700 seedlings of nine different forb
species into grassland at Yarramundi Reach (on Lady Denman Drive, ACT). These
were clustered into a few areas that had earlier been sprayed for Chilean Needle
Grass and St Johns Wort under the environmental grant ‘Grassy Ecosystem
Restoration on National Lands in Central Canberra’ from the ACT Government. Many
places at Yarramundi Reach have good stands of grasses but very few forbs, so
the addition of other common species was undertaken to improve biodiversity as
well as enhancing areas of dead weeds. The
work was carried out by volunteers from Greening Australia Capital Region (GA),
and all the plants had been propagated in GA’s nursery facility in Aranda.
Despite some dry and warm times since July, several of the species have gone on
to flower and set seed in their very first season. One of the most striking has
been Wahlenbergia stricta which showed up dramatically
early in November with many flowers in several of the planted areas.

workparties may be cancelled in the event of extreme weather. For details and contact information
for forthcoming workparties, see the current
Calendar.